Arvada Light Display Brightens the New Year with 18,000+ Meals!

For the 5th consecutive year, Arvada residents Tom & Ed adorned their home with a multitude of lights for the holiday season. 37,000 computer-controlled lights synchronized to Christmas music delighted this year’s visitors.

Once again, Tom & Ed installed a donation box benefitting Food Bank of the Rockies (FBR), so people who come to enjoy the display can give back to those in need. This year they raised $4,660 –the equivalent of 18,640 meals!

Tom says, “The entire project is very labor intensive, but when we see the finished product, it’s all worth it. And when we look out the window and see the traffic and the eager faces of children with eyes as big as saucers, it gives us a nice warm feeling. In 2008 we decided that it would be an excellent idea to take donations for Food Bank of the Rockies.” Over the past three years, Ed and Tom’s visitors have raised nearly $12,000 to benefit FBR!

Thank you, Tom and Ed, for your kindness and helping those in need over the holidays!

Tom and Ed present their check to FBR CEO Kevin

Pound for Pound, We're Fighting Hunger

Food Bank of the Rockies, along with Feeding America, General Mills and The Biggest Loser are excited to announce the 2011 Pound for Pound Challenge.  The Pound for Pound Challenge is built around the incredible success of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, and the timing at the start of the new year is perfect.

The program allows anyone to shed pounds along with the contestants by pledging their weight-loss goals at www.pfpchallenge.com. For every pound pledged, General Mills and other partners will donate 13 cents to Food Bank of the Rockies through Feeding America. It does not cost anything to participate and you'll be helping feed those in need throughout our community.

New this year, people can pledge to maintain a healthy weight and they can create or join a team when they pledge. This will allow companies, friends and social groups to compete against each other to see who can get the most people to pledge their pounds.

Join us in the Pound for Pound Challenge by creating a team and getting healthy & fit together in the new year! The 2011 Pound for Pound Challenge kicks off TODAY, January 5, during the season premier of The Biggest Loser. 

Tune in tonight and visit foodbankrockies.org to make your pledge today!

Surprise Donation from Purina Makes the Holidays Brighter

Food Bank of the Rockies received notice of an early Christmas gift this year from our friends at Purina. For their $1 Million in ONE Day campaign, Purina sent out street teams to Denver, New Orleans, Miami and New York  on 12/20/10 and gave randomly selected people an opportunity to donate $5,000, in their name, from Purina ONEbeyOnd, to their charity of choice from a list of options.

Food Bank of the Rockies was one of the charities on the list for Denver. FBR was fortunate to receive $35,000 – that’s 140,000 meals for our community!

What a wonderful gesture, Purina - we are so grateful. And a huge thanks to those kind people who selected Food Bank of the Rockies. Talk about a great surprise to end 2010!

Visit Purina's Facebook page to send a thank-you message or comment about the day and read the USA Today article here.

"Samantha"

"Samantha" moved with her two kids to Colorado from Michigan a couple years back to be closer to her mom.  For two years, life was great.  Just like that, it all turned.  We spoke to her this past April about what brought her to a Denver food bank we were visiting.  Check out "Samantha's" story.  I think you'll be surprised at how real her life story is and how close so many of us are to the position she's in.  One month of no income.  So often, that's all it takes.   

Hunger is Everywhere...Even on the Tether Ball Court

FBR is fortunate enough to be one of many Denver-area nonprofit organizations that receives funding through Season To Share, a McCormick Foundation. The FBR authored post below comes from their new Season to Share blog,  showing the impact that can be made on the lives of those in need in our community through Season To Share. To learn more about Season To Share or to make a donation (all donations are matched at 50% by the McCormick Foundation), visit http://www.seasontoshare.com/.

"Remember being a kid and either being envied because you were really good at something or envious because someone else was? Bobby, (name changed), a sixth grader at a local Denver elementary school, is one of those kids who is really good at something. Tether ball. In Bobby’s school, if you rule the tether ball court, you are king of the class. No one could beat Bobby. One day, his teacher and a counselor observed he was losing on the court. They also noticed he didn’t seem to mind. Finally, they noticed that he began bringing a small carry-on to school. One afternoon, as he left for the day, they asked him what was inside. Bobby opened it up excitedly, proudly displaying sandwiches, fruit, chips, juices and other items, obviously from his classmates’ lunches. When his teacher asked him where he got all the food, he told her, “I let the other kids win at tether ball if they promise to give me some­thing from their lunch. Then I take the food home so my family can eat.”"


Click here for the rest of the post...

KBCO Studio C Fights Hunger

We're proud to once again be chosen as a recipient for the proceeds of KBCO's coveted Studio C album! On Saturday, December 4, FBR staff and volunteers joined forces with KBCO staff, representatives from Boulder Aids Project, Key Bank folks and endless lines of KBCO fans outside various Ultimate Electronics locations around town.  The goal?  Thousands of people line up overnight  or at the crak of dawn to be first in line to purchase this compilation of one of a kind musical masterpieces.  Fresh from Studio C.  We were honored enough to spend time with KBCO talent and chat with folks who make this a yearly tradition.   Many thanks to all our friends at KBCO for including us in this outstanding fundraiser.  Our neighbors in need will reap the rewards of your generosity.     

KBCO's witty Bret Saunders and the lovely Robbyn Hart set up shop outside the Park Meadows Ultimate Electronics location. 

FBR's Janie & Gwen joined the masses at the Park Meadows remote.

 The line.  The endless line.

 Key Bank provided coffee and breakfast food for the crowd to enjoy as they waited.

Childhood Weekend Hunger Needs Your Help

You've probably heard about our Totes of Hope-Children program. So many of the kids we serve had very little to eat over the weekend when after school programs and clubs were closed. Mom or Dad often work multiple jobs and these kids were coming to school Monday morning, hungry and undernourished. Thus the Totes of Hope program was born, delivering backpacks of food that kids can take home on Friday, providing not only nutrition, but also peace of mind over the weekend.

Our friends at Feeding America just sent along an email, announcing some potentially very exciting news for weekend childhood hunger in America. Caryn Long, Senior Policy Counsel at Feeding America in Washington DC explained that the U.S. House of Representatives just passed the Weekends Without Hunger Act on December 8. The act was introduced earlier this spring by Dina Titus of Nevada and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

The bill would authorize a five-year pilot program funded with 10 million dollars for the USDA to apply toward weekend feeding programs in America. The USDA would provide commodities to programs serving low income kids – 50 percent or more of the kids in the program must be enrolled in free or reduced-price school lunches for the program to qualify for the funding. Currently, Food Bank of the Rockies' Totes of Hope program is privately funded, as are many backpack programs around the country. This would enable us to expand our reach to more kids in need in low income areas of our service area.

The challenge....the bill has passed the House and will now go to the Senate. If the Senate passes the bill, the pilot program will be authorized. If the bill fails to pass before the Senate adjourns, we will need to start from the beginning with the 112th Congress in January.

How YOU can help...tell your Senator to pass the Weekends Without Hunger Act. Call both of your senators and deliver this message:

“As my Senator, there is a very important way you can help the hungry before Congress adjourns for the year. Please pass the Weekends Without Hunger Act (HR 5012). Thank you.”

Bennet, Michael F. - (D - CO)
702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5852

Udall, Mark - (D - CO)
317 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5941


Collectively, we can make this happen!